MARCH 19TH

POOR RICHARD'S ALMANACK

Who says Jack is not generous? he is always fond of giving, and cares not for receiving.—What? Why; Advice.

— Benjamin Franklin,1740

AMERICANREVOLUTION.ORG

Elizabeth Ferguson

The old building called the Carpenter Mansion,
the site of which is now occupied by the Arcade in Philadelphia,
was the residence of Doctor Thomas Graeme, the father of Mrs.
Ferguson. He was a native of Scotland; distinguished as a physician
in the city; and for some time was colonial collector of the
port. He married Anne, the daughter of Sir William Keith, then
Governor of Pennsylvania.

More than thirty years before the Revolution,
when these premises were occupied by Governor Thomas, the fruit
trees, garden, and shrubbery often allured the townsfolk to extend
their walks thither. The youth of that day were frequently indebted
to the kindness of the Governor's lady, who invited them to help
themselves from a long range of cherry trees; and when May day
came, the young girls were treated to bouquets and wreaths from
the gardens. After the death of Dr. Graeme, in 1772, the property
passed successively into different hands. In time of the war,
the house was appropriated for the use of the sick American soldiery,
who died there in hundreds of the camp fever. The sufferers were
supplied with nourishment by the ladies of Philadelphia; and
General Washington himself sent them a cask of Madeira, which
he had received as a present from Robert Morris. The mansion
was the scene, moreover, of a most touching spectacle, on one
occasion, when the mother of a youth from the country came to
seek her son among the dead in the hospital. While mourning over
him as lost to her for ever, she discerned signs of life, and
ere long he was restored to consciousness in her arms.

While occupied by Dr. Graeme, the house was
long rendered attractive and celebrated, not only by his exuberant
hospitality, but by the talents and accomplishments of his youngest
daughter. She was the centre of the literary coteries of that
day, who were accustomed to meet at her father's residence. Even
in early life she discovered a mind richly endowed with intellectual
gifts. These were cultivated with care by her excellent and accomplished
mother. She was born in 1739. In her youth she passed much time
in study; for which, and the cultivation of her poetical talents,
opportunities were afforded in the pleasant retreat where her
parents spent their summers - Graeme Park, in Montgomery county,
twenty miles from Philadelphia. It is said that the translation
of Telemachus into English verse - the manuscript volumes of
which are in the Philadelphia Library - was undertaken by Elizabeth
Graeme, as a relief and diversion of her mind from the suffering
occasioned by a disappointment in love. After this, the failure
of her health induced her father to send her to Europe. Her mother,
who had long been declining, wished her much to go, and for a
reason as singular as it is touching. She believed the time of
her death to be at hand; and felt that the presence of her beloved
daughter prevented that exclusive fixing of her thoughts and
affections upon heavenly things, which in her last hours she
desired. This distrust of the heart is not an uncommon feeling.
Archbishop Lightfoot wished to die separated from his home and
family. A mother, some years ago, in her last moments said to
her daughter, who sat weeping at her bedside, "Leave me,
my child; I cannot die while you are in the room." Something
of the same feeling is shown in an extract from one of Mrs. Graeme's
letters, written to be delivered after her death: "My trust,"
she says, "is in my heavenly Father's mercies, procured
and promised by the all-sufficient merits of my blessed Saviour;
so that whatever time it may be before you see this, or whatever
weakness I may be under on my death-bed, be assured this is my
faith - this is my hope from my youth up until now."

Mrs. Graeme died, as she expected, during
the absence of her daughter; but left two farewell letters to
be delivered on her return. These contained advice respecting
her future life in the relations of wife and mistress of a household;
and the most ardent expressions of maternal affection. Elizabeth
remained a year in England, under the guardianship of the Rev.
Dr. Richard Peters, of Philadelphia, whose position enabled him
to introduce her into the best society. She was sought for in
literary circles, attracted the attention of distinguished persons
by her mental accomplishments, and was particularly noticed by
the British monarch. The celebrated Dr. Fothergill, whom she
consulted as a physician, was during his life her friend and
correspondent.

Her return to Philadelphia was welcomed by
a numerous circle of friends, who came to console with her upon
her mother's death, and to testify their affectionate remembrance
of herself. The stores of information gained during her visit
to Great Britain, where she had been "all eye, all ear,
and all grasp," were dispensed for the information and entertainment
of those she loved. She now occupied the place of her mother
in her father's family, managing the house and presiding in the
entertainment of his visitors. During several years of their
winter residence in the city, Saturday evenings were appropriated
for the reception of their friends, and strangers who visited
Philadelphia with introductions to the family of Dr. Graeme.
The mansion was, in fact, the head-quarters of literature and
refinement; and the hospitality of its owner rendered it an agreeable
resort. Miss Graeme was the presiding genius. Her brilliant intellect,
her extensive and varied knowledge, her vivid fancy, and cultivated
taste, offered attractions which were enhanced by the charm of
her graceful manners.

It was at one of these evening assemblies
that she first saw Hugh Henry Ferguson, a young gentleman lately
arrived in the country from Scotland. They were pleased with
each other at the first interview, being congenial in literary
tastes, and a love of retirement. The marriage took place in
a few months, notwithstanding that Ferguson was ten years younger
than Miss Graeme. Not long after this event her father died,
having bequeathed to his daughter the country-seat in Montgomery
county, on which she and her husband continued to reside.

The happiness anticipated by Mrs. Ferguson,
in country seclusion and her books, was of brief duration. The
discontents were increasing between Great Britain and America,
which resulted in the war of Independence. It was necessary for
Mr. Ferguson to take part with one or the other; and he decided
according to the prejudices natural to his birth, by espousing
the royal cause. From this time a separation took place between
him and Mrs. Ferguson.

Her connection with certain political transactions
exposed her for a time to much censure and mortification. But
there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of her declarations
with regard to the motives that influenced her conduct. Many
of her unobtrusive charities testify to her sympathy with her
suffering countrymen. She not only visited the cottages in her
neighborhood with supplies of clothing, provisions, or medicines
for the inmates, but while General Howe had possession of Philadelphia,
she sent a quantity of linen into the city, spun with her own
hands, and directed it to be made into shirts for the benefit
of the American prisoners taken at the battle of Germantown.

Another instance of her benevolence is characteristic.
On hearing, in one of her visits to the city, that a merchant
had become reduced, and having been imprisoned for debt, was
suffering from want of the comforts of life, she sent him a bed,
and afterwards visited him in prison, and put twenty dollars
into his hands. She refused to inform him who was his benefactor;
but it was discovered by his description of her person and dress.
At this time her annual income, it is said, was reduced to a
very limited sum. Many other secret acts of charity, and many
instances of her sensibility and tender sympathy with all who
suffered, performed at the expense of her personal and habitual
comforts, were remembered by her friends.

Her husband being engaged in the British service,
she was favored by the loyalists, while treated with respect
at the same time by the other party as an American lady who occupied
a high social position. I It was natural that she should be in
some measure influenced by attachment to the old order of things,
and respect for the civil institutions she had been accustomed
to venerate; while her desire for the good of her countrymen
led to ardent wishes that the desolations and miseries she witnessed
might cease. It is said she often wept over newspapers containing
details of suffering. The sensibility that could not bear to
look on the woes even of the brute creation, must have been severely
tried by the daily horrors of civil war. It is not surprising,
therefore, that she should be eager to seize any opportunity
that offered of being instrumental in ending them.

Immediately after the British took possession
of Philadelphia, Mrs. Ferguson was the bearer of a letter from
the Rev. Mr. Duché to General Washington, which greatly
displeased him, causing him to express to her his disapprobation
of the intercourse.

The reader is referred to the LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
OF PRESIDENT REED, by his grandson, William B. Reed. Vol. I.,
381. Mrs. Ferguson's letters are there quoted, with her narrative,
at length. She seemed to have held with the writer, and his expectation
that it should be discontinued. At a later period she came again
to Philadelphia, under a pass granted her by the Commander-in-chief,
for the purpose of taking leave of her husband. She was at the
house of her friend Charles Stedman, which chanced to be the
place appointed for the residence of Governor Johnstone, one
of the commissioners sent under parliamentary authority to settle
the differences between Great Britain and America. She was in
company with him three times; the conversation being general
on the first two occasions. His declarations, she says, were
so warm in favor of American interests, that she looked upon
him as really a friend to her country. He wished, since he could
not himself be permitted to pass the lines, to find some person
who would step forward and act a mediatorial part, by suggesting
something to stop the effusion of blood likely to ensue if the
war were carried on. Mrs. Ferguson said repeatedly, that she
believed the sentiment of the people to be in favor of Independence.
"I am certain," were her words in the last conversation
on the subject, "that nothing short of Independence will
be accepted." Yet it does not appear that her own views
were averse to a re-union of the two countries.

Governor Johnstone then expressed a particular
anxiety for the influence of General Reed; and requested Mrs.
Ferguson, "if she should see him," to convey the idea,
that provided he could, "comformably to his conscience and
views of things," exert his influence to settle the dispute,
"he might command ten thousand guineas, and the best post
in the government." In reply to Mrs, Ferguson's question,
if Mr. Reed Would not look upon such a mode of obtaining his
influence as a bribe, Johnstone immediately disclaimed any such
idea; said such a method of proceeding was common in all negotiations;
and that one might honorably make it a man's interest to step
forth in such a cause. She on her part expressed her conviction
that if Mr. Reed thought it right to give up the point of Independence,
he would say so without fee or reward; and if he were of a different
opinion, no pecuniary emolument would lead him to give a contrary
vote. Mr. Johnstone did not see the matter in this light.

A day or two after this communication was
suggested, Mrs. Ferguson sent by a confidential messenger a note
to General Reed, at head-quarters, requesting an hour's conversation
previous to her going to Lancaster on business, and desiring
him to fix a place where she could meet him without the necessity
of passing through the camp. She stated that the business on
which she wished to confer with him could not be committed to
writing.

The note was received on the 21st of June,
after General Reed's arrival in the city, which had been evacuated
three days before by the British. He sent word by the bearer
that he would wait upon Mrs. Ferguson the same evening. At this
interview, the conversation treating of Governor Johnstone's
desire of settling matters upon an amicable footing, and his
favorable sentiments towards Mr. Reed, General Reed mentioned
that he had received a letter from him at Valley Forge. Mrs.
Ferguson then repeated, in all its particulars, the conversation
that had passed at the house of Mr. Stedman. Her repetition of
the proposition of Governor Johnstone brought from General Reed
the prompt and noble reply: "I AM NOT WORTH PURCHASING;
BUT SUCH AS I AM, THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN IS NOT RICH ENOUGH
TO DO IT."

General Reed laid before Congress both the
written and verbal communications of Governor Johnstone; withholding,
however, the name of the lady, from motives of delicacy, and
reluctance to draw down popular indignation upon her. An account
of the transaction was also published in the papers of the day.
It was useless to attempt concealment of her name; suspicion
was at once directed to her; and her name was called for by a
resolution of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania. The attempt
through the wife of a loyalist to bribe a member of Congress
to aid in uniting the Colonies to the mother country, proved
of incalculable service in recalling the doubting and irresolute
whigs to a sense of duty. The story, and the noble reply, were
repeated from mouth to mouth; and from the hour it was known,
the whigs had won - the tories lost - the future empire."
Congress issued a declaration condemning the daring and atrocious
attempts made to corrupt their integrity, and declaring it incompatible
with their honor to hold any manner of correspondence with the
said George Johnstone.

As may be imagined, disagreeable consequences
ensued, which were severely felt by Mrs. Ferguson. As soon as
she saw the article in Towne's Evening Post, which reached her
at Graeme Park, July 26th, 1778, she addressed a letter of remonstrance
to General Reed, bitterly complaining of having been exhibited
in the newspapers as a mere emissary of the commissioners. "I
own I find it hard," she says, "knowing the uncorruptness
of my heart, to be held out to the public as a tool to the commissioners.
But the impression is now made, and it is too late to recall
it. How far, at this critical juncture of time, this affair may
injure my property, is uncertain; that, I assure you is but a
secondary thought."

It appears evident that Mrs. Ferguson did
not act this part in any expectation of deriving advantage for
herself. Her associations and connections being chiefly with
the royalists, it was natural that her opinions should be influenced
by theirs; but her desire for the good of the country was undoubtedly
disinterested. After the return of Governor Johnstone to England,
he ventured to deny the charge preferred in the resolutions of
Congress, by a letter published in Rivington's Gazette; and in
a speech in November in the House of Commons, boldly asserted
the falsehood of the statement made by General Reed. His denial
no sooner reached America , than Mrs. Ferguson, anxious that
justice should be done to all parties, published her narrative
of the transaction, confirmed by her oath. The excellence of
the motives which had actuated her in consenting to act as Johnstone's
confidential agent, is sufficiently apparent in the spirit she
now exhibited.

"Among the many mortifying insinuations
that have been hinted on the subject, none has so sensibly affected
me, as an intimation that some thought I acted a part, in consequence
of certain expectations of a post, or some preferment from Mr.
Johnstone, to be conferred on the person dearest to me on earth.
On that head I shall say no more, but leave it to any person
of common sense to determine, if I had any views of that kind,
whether I should, in so full and solemn a manner, call in question
what Mr. Johnstone has asserted in the House of Commons. A proceeding
of this kind must totally exclude all avenues of favor from that
quarter, were there ever any expected, which I solemnly declare
never was the case. If this account should ever have the honor
to be glanced over by the eye of Governor Johnstone, I know not
in what medium. he may view it. It is possible that the multiplicity
of ideas, which may be supposed to pass through the brain of
a politician in the course of a few months, may have jostled
the whole transaction out of his memory. Should this be the case,
insignificant and contemptible as I may appear to him, I believe
there are two or three people in Britain who will venture to
tell him, in all his plenitude of power, that they believe I
would not set my hand to an untruth."

Mrs. Ferguson's poetical talent has been mentioned.
Her verses were said to possess vigor and measure, but to lack
melody, while her prose writings indicated both genius and knowledge.
She was well read in polemical divinity, and a firm believer
in the doctrines of revelation. She is said to have transcribed
the whole Bible, to impress its contents more deeply upon her
mind; hence the facility with which she would select appropriate
passages to illustrate or adorn the subjects of her writings
or conversation.

She had no children, but adopted the son and
daughter of one of her sisters, who on her deathbed committed
them to her care. The nephew, an accomplished scholar and gentleman,
was till his death a lieutenant in the British army.

The talents and attainments of Mrs. Ferguson,
her virtues, elevated and invigorated by Christian faith, her
independence and integrity of character, and her benevolent feeling
for others, endeared her name to a large circle of friends. Yet
her life appears to have been one darkened by sorrow. In her
later years the reduction of her income diminished her means
of usefulness; but she would not permit any privations to which
she found it necessary to submit, to be a source of unhappiness.

She died at the house of a friend near Graeme
Park, on the twenty-third of February, 1801, in the sixty-second
year of her age.